"Recent national news accounts have referred to the City of Lincoln's potential projects to be funded under a
national economic stimulus plan. These reports have focused on one item in particular: a public golf course
clubhouse renovation.

"The projects in question were compiled in November in response to an informational request by the U.S. Conference
of Mayors (USCM), a private, nonprofit organization. President Obama had just been elected, and no information was
available about the stimulus package proposal. The guidelines supplied by the USCM were vague and purely hypothetical.
For example, cities were encouraged to identify as many potential job-creation projects as possible that could be
completed this calendar year.

"Since the time frame was very short, my office staff compiled a potential project list and submitted it directly
to the USCM. This is a fairly routine course of business in working with the USCM, as it regularly makes "general"
requests. The U.S. Conference of Mayors then published the cities' submissions on its Web site.

"The list never represented any official request to the federal government for stimulus projects. The clubhouse
project was removed from our consideration well before the national media stories began to appear. I want to reassure
the people of Lincoln that the project will not be included in our official stimulus package requests to either the
federal or state governments, now or in the future. I regret the confusion that has been caused by the U.S. Conference
of Mayors submission.

"The official City of Lincoln projects will be determined after a stimulus package is passed into law. In the
meantime, I look forward to discussing the potential projects with the City Council as we move through the process.

"The stimulus package legislation will likely require the development of a Web site to ensure public transparency.
Whether that is required or not, I will make sure that Lincoln residents will be able to view the official list of
projects submitted by the City."